Feminist News

Texas SEC Lose Sexual Harassment Suit

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt has ruled that males at the Houston office of the Securities and Exchange Commission sexually harassed female employees. Hoyt ruled that Wanderlon Ann Barnes, an African-American lawyer for the SEC who initiated the su it, is entitled to monetary damages because her supervisor engaged in various "sexual and vulgar acts." For example, in meetings with women the supervisor, Joseph Matta, would often sit at his desk, looking down at his crotch while closing and opening hi s legs. The ruling also singled out Christopher Browne, now the Fort Worth office's district administrator, for sexually harassing Barnes and other women. In Tuesday's Washington Post Browne commented, "The allegations of sexual harassment the ju dge said happened in that Houston office never happened. If they did happen, they aren't very bad, are they?" Barnes attorney, S. Beville May, however, commented that the ruling was, "dynamite...a scathing indictment of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission's pervasive racist and sexist conduct towards talented women and minorities."